Newly surfaced video shows two Chi Phi fraternity members telling investigators that the sexual activity at the center of an alleged Cornell gang rape was consensual.
The alleged victim, identified as Jane Doe in court documents, filed a lawsuit last month claiming she was sexually assaulted by several men after being pressured to drink alcohol and take drugs.
The two fraternity brothers, whose names were withheld and faces blurred in the footage, told police that the sexual activity involved “consenting adults.”
In a recorded interview obtained by ABC News, one of the men said: “What people were saying was that there was like multiple consenting adults in this room.”
A second brother similarly told investigators, “There was consensual act that took place.”
The investigating officer challenged the men, asking how they could know whether everyone involved had consented to sexual activity.
“Dude, I was a college kid. I get it. In college I wouldn’t have been like, ‘oh, that was a sick consensual act last night.’ Right? I guess how did they know it was consensual?” the officer said.
The second brother responded: “I mean, I can’t recall exactly what was said, but, yeah, I mean, they – they said that they had sex with her, I guess.”
The two brothers shown in the police interview were not named in Doe’s lawsuit and have not been accused of wrongdoing.
In a recorded interview obtained by ABC News, one brother said: “What people were saying was that there was like multiple consenting adults in this room.”
“There was consensual act that took place,” a second brother said. “I mean, I can’t recall exactly what was said, but, yeah, I mean, they – they said that they had sex with her, I guess.”
Jane Doe, identified only by that pseudonym in court filings, sued last month alleging that multiple Chi Phi members sexually assaulted her two years ago after pressuring her to consume alcohol and drugs.
According to a civil lawsuit filed in September, Doe alleged that she was gang raped at the now-defunct Chi Phi fraternity house on October 19, 2024. She named Umar Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Noris and Scott Kretzschmar as the men involved.
Doe claimed the seven men engaged in sexual acts with her while she was “completely incapacitated” and unable to consent. She said the alleged assault continued until about 5:45 a.m., when she lost consciousness.
The lawsuit also alleges that the men manipulated her into consuming ketamine and alcohol that night. All seven men have denied the accusations.
Doe, who was 20 and a Cornell sophomore at the time, reported the alleged assault to Cornell police in November 2024, three weeks after she said it occurred.
Campus police investigated and forwarded a summary of their findings to Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten. No criminal charges were filed. Cornell also carried out a separate Title IX investigation.
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The accused men have either denied taking part in the alleged assault or maintained that the sexual activity was consensual.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case. The Chi Phi chapter was closed, while Cornell has said that some students were expelled and others suspended.
Ingalls later alleged that he was the person who had been sexually assaulted, arguing that he was too intoxicated to consent to sexual intercourse.
In an email to Cornell’s Title IX investigator in February 2025, Ingalls even accused the school of ‘entrapment’ and suggested he would file his own complaint against Jane Doe.
Ingalls was later expelled from the school along with Jonathan Newell, who engaged in a threesome with Jane Doe and Ingalls and allegedly struck the victim.
Suspensions and disciplinary probation orders were also handed down to Winston Lee and Gillio Lopes, according to records obtained by The New York Times.
Both men were also ordered not to contact the alleged victim, and were required to study sexual harassment and write reflection papers.
Meanwhile, Diego Sarabia was barred from campus for three years. He had already graduated from the school by the time of the disciplinary panel’s ruling in March 2025.
The other two men, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, were ordered not to contact Jane Doe, to study sexual harassment, social media use and bystander intervention and to write ‘reflection papers.’
They were not part of the alleged attack, but were accused of entering the room after Newell allegedly posted in a fraternity Snapchat group that there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs.
But none of the men involved in the alleged assault were ever charged with any wrongdoing, as Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten concluded there was a lack of evidence based on Jane Doe’s statement to police at the time.
His office has since reopened the case, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor.
Meanwhile, officials at Cornell University announced Tuesday they have hired former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review the school’s handling of the case and its broader sexual assault policies.
The probe will cover Cornell’s ‘policies, practices and resources across the full range of prevention and response,’ university officials said.
That includes examining how reports are received and investigated, how hearings and disciplinary decisions are handled, as well as the role and response of campus police and its coordination with other law enforcement agencies and prosecutors and even oversight of fraternities and sororities on campus.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
